Center Stage With You
by Goldengirlie
Summary: (Theatre/Secret Dating AU) Annabeth Chase always wanted to be Glinda in Wicked. It's been her dream role for years. She's beyond excited to perform it with her school, but one mishap sends Annabeth's perfectly concocted plan into a tailspin. With everything Annabeth thought that she wanted changing, will she be able to play the part of her dreams? Rated T for Language. *ONESHOT*


(Annabeth's POV)

I float onstage, forcing myself not to squint under the glare of Will Solace's spotlight. My costume, a billowing pink dress, covers the seat of the odd bubble contraption I'm supposed to ride in on. At the very edge of my vision, I can see Leo up in the light booth. All of a sudden, the bubble lurches to the right. I bite back my scream of terror and grip the handles even tighter. _We just had to do Wicked, didn't we?_

"Harley! Stop shaking the wires! She could get seriously hurt!" Beckendorf, the backstage manager, barks. I can _just barely_ hear Rachel Elizabeth Dare doing some last minute repairs on the sets. This show's Elphaba, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano watches nervously as I am lowered to the correct height. I take a deep breath and launch myself into the opening number.

"Cut!" Chiron yells. I'm lowered to the ground.

"Ground! Sweet, sweet solid ground!" I say loudly, kneeling on the stage with my face pressed into its black surface. There's a laugh from behind me and a thud as someone sits down. I look up to see Percy Jackson, the show's Fiyero, sitting beside me and snickering.

"You okay? That looked pretty bad," he snorts, passing me a bottle of water.

"What's so funny?" I say.

"'Ground! Sweet, sweet solid ground!' Seriously Annabeth, what was that?" He chuckles.

"You act like you didn't act like that last year with The Little Mermaid," I grumbles, adjusting the crown on my head.

"Still don't know _why_ Chiron picked me to fly. He knows I have a fear of heights," he sighs, before elbowing me in the arm. I don't hesitate to elbow him back, and it continues on like that for another two minutes.

"Jackson! Chase! Stop flirting and get in your places!" Thalia, the student director, barks. Percy and I scoot as far away from each other as possible.

"We're not flirting!" Percy says as I sit back on my bubble.

"Places!" Chiron calls. Percy sprints offstage. I am being slowly raised up into the air, and the ensemble crowds below me. I'm being flown across the stage now, towards the spot where I have to change costumes backstage when it happens. Luke. Freaking. Castellan. says every performer's worst nightmare: Macbeth. One of the two wires holding up my bubble snaps, and the bubble swings off to the left. I can't help it. I scream as I hold on to the bubble for dear life. the other wire isn't meant to handle all of that weight, so it's starting to fray. _I won't be able to perform in the show if someone doesn't do something!_ The ensemble scatters and Percy cuts through the crowd and stands below the bubble.

"Someone help!" I scream.

"What do we do? What do we do?" Thalia says.

"Okay, Annabeth. The wire isn't going to hold much longer. You need to jump," Percy says.

"Are you crazy, Percy? In these shoes?And at this height? I'd break my ankles!" I say. A crowd is gathering now.

"I'll catch you! Just jump!" Percy says. Techs are running around trying to prevent as much damage as possible. I hear the tearing of wires stretched to their limit. One hand slips, then the other, and I fall. I shut my eyes and prepare to hit the ground, but I don't. Percy somehow caught me. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" He laughs. I giggle too.

"Thanks for catching me," I say, kissing his cheek and clambering out of his arms as gracefully as I can in a ball gown. Percy's face goes bright red and he freezes. _Uh oh._ Thalia drags Luke out onstage by his ear so Chiron can see him.

"Castellan here decided to screw us all up by saying the M word," Thalia growls.

"So worth it," Luke chuckles, tugging on his coat. Now, a bit of an explanation about Luke. I had a crush on him for _ages_. He's a bit of a prankster sometimes, but he's kind of cute. Oh, and he has these blue eyes that you could practically _melt_ in. He's too much of a douchebag for me to actually like anymore, but I will admit that he's attractive. Percy snaps out of his trance and glares at Luke.

"It's not funny, man! So many people could have been hurt," Percy says. The techs unhook the bubble from its cable and attach Harley to a harness to grab the broken cable off of the fly loft.

"It was pretty funny," Luke says.

"Mr. Castellan, thanks to your little stunt, we've lost precious dress rehearsal time. Go do the ritual," Chiron says, wheeling himself up the aisle. Luke stalks out of the theatre.

"Set up for Dancing Through Life," Thalia calls. I head back to the girls' dressing room and put on my costume for that scene. I get the dress on, then remember part of my costume is with Calypso, being repaired. _Crap._ I run out towards Calypso and grab the white overcoat _thing_ I have to wear to disguise the dress. In my haste I forget to Velcro it.

"Beth, your coat!" Percy calls, adjusting his red vest as I stop in my spot.

"Thanks," I pant, fixing the coat.

"I think these are the tightest pants I've ever worn in my life," he groans.

"Oh quit your whining, Seaweed Brain," I smirk.

"You'll never let that go, will you?" he mutters.

"Nope," I say.

"Five, six, seven, eight," Thalia calls. The sound tech, Jake Mason, starts the soundtrack and Percy starts to sing. I start my choreography on cue and focus on the music. Percy grabs my hand and twirls me around on cue before hiding behind a prop as Travis Stoll, playing Boq, comes up to me to sing his part. I'm conscious of Katie Gardner behind me, sitting in her prop wheelchair, and pretending to read a book. Travis runs off and pushes Katie offstage with him. Percy comes out and we do one last thing before heading backstage to switch costumes. The entire cast, besides Reyna and Katie are backstage in dressing rooms, but I just rip off my coat and get ready to go back out there in a minute.

"Hey, can you help me with this tie?" Percy whispers.

"You're hopeless. Your shirt isn't buttoned right, and why can't you tie your own tie? " I sigh, before fixing his shirt and tying his tie.

"Thanks," he mutters, as I turn and skip onstage followed by two ensemble girls already in their formal costumes. _Why do we have so many costumes?_ The rest of it goes off without a hitch. Of course, Percy steps on my toes a few times, but overall it's still great.

"Great work everyone! Change out of your costumes, and go get pizza in the green room! Percy, Annabeth, may I speak with you for a moment?" Chiron says. Percy and I look at each other and shrug. The rest of the cast goes backstage.

"What's up Chiron?" Percy says.

"You two forgot the stage kiss. Please remember for next time," Thalia says, walking by.

"Also, you two have a habit of forgetting stage kisses," Chiron sighs.

"Do we have to do them?" I mutter.

"Yes. they add to the emotion in a scene," Chiron says.

"But it's so awkward!" Percy replies.

"Trust me, I know. I had to make out with _Luke_ for a show once," Thalia says, bouncing a pen on her knee.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. What show was it? Oh right! _The Last Five Years_ ," I say.

"Get changed and get some food," Chiron says. We split up and go back to the dressing rooms.

"Okay, so we're in the front for two kisses, but we're in the background for the one during _I'm Not That Girl_. It looks fake as all hell if we do the thumb thing close up, so we need ideas, or we're going to have to really kiss," Percy says a few minutes later as we sit by our friends in the corner. Leo starts laughing.

"Chiron's making you _actually_ kiss?" he wheezes.

"Not funny, Valdez. This is a problem. Look at how freaked out they are!" Rachel says.

"Honestly, it wouldn't be _that_ bad. It's not like we haven't kissed before," I shrug.

"Wait, you two _kissed?_ Where was I for this?" Silena, our show's Madame Morrible, says.

"Spin the bottle, eighth grade. We didn't talk about it for nearly two months, and we only did because Thalia and Grover locked us in a room until we worked it out," Percy says.

"What if we-" I say.

"If you're suggesting a dip, it wouldn't work. Remember, the _Much Ado About Nothing_ incident?" he says.

"We will never speak of that again," I say, before taking a huge bite of pizza.

"Now I'm curious. What was the _Much Ado About Nothing_ incident?" Piper, who plays Elphaba's mother and several other background roles, asks.

"Don't ask," I groan.

"We could put something in front of us so we don't have to kiss?" he suggests.

" Like what? We're supposed to be by the punch bowl!" I say. Thalia stands up and goes to the middle of the room.

"Back to work, everyone!" she yells. Piper zips me into my dress, and I help her zip up her costume before we head back onstage.

"Okay, so we're going to run _I'm Not That Girl_ and then all of the second act. Percy, Annabeth?" Chiron says.

"We know. Don't even bother. We remember," I say, as Percy and I climb up onto the catwalk, which is disguised as a bridge.

"We're going thumb thing, right?" Percy says as the music starts.

"We have to act like we're in love until then." I hiss, grabbing his hand and pulling him up to the back 're still awkwardly holding hands as Reyna sings somewhere below us. Percy's thumb taps against the back of my hand, keeping time until we're supposed to kiss and run off. Percy's free hand goes to the side of my face away from the audience and I lean in and kiss him. _There's no thumb there oh my god what do I do what do I do?_ The crash of thunder that's supposed to signify us breaking apart comes, and I pretend to cover my head and run off, still holding Percy's hand so he gets dragged behind me. _Time to hide for another two months._ The both of us are bright red as we get backstage. there's a series of wolf whistles from everyone not onstage, and Silena gives me a thumbs up. "Go go go go go," I mutter, bobbing and weaving through the backstage area dragging Percy along behind me.

"So," he says once we're alone in the hallway.

"Oh my god that wasn't supposed to happen! oh my god oh my god oh my god," I say, pacing. Thalia runs out to see us.

"Guys, whatever you did there, it worked! Chiron was gushing about how realistic it looked. He wants it done like that everyday," she says.

"We may or may not have accidentally kissed," he says, running a hand through his hair.

"How the hell do you _accidentally_ kiss?" Thalia laughs.

"It was an accident, honestly! What do we do? Chiron wants us to actually kiss there too!" I say.

"Beth, chill. We can handle it later. Right now, we need to _talk_." Percy says. Thalia walks away. "What are we doing?" he says.

"I don't know. We're best friends, but we randomly kiss, and it's really awkward," I say.

"Yeah. We're going to need to work on that. We have to be back here by noon tomorrow, right?" he says.

"Umm, yeah. I think so. Wanna go out for coffee before that?" I say.

"Yeah. but how are we going to get over the awkwardness?" Percy says.

"I don't know. But we are _never_ to speak about that kiss in front of our parents, or any of the non theatre people. We _don't_ need rumors starting," I reply.

"There's one way to get over the awkwardness,but it could make things even more awkward," Percy sighs.

"What, you mean practice kissing? That could actually work. My place or yours?" I say.

"Yours. You still have that old treehouse that isn't visible from your house, right?" he replies.

"Yeah, but I've got to go get into the costume for the second act. We're starting when we're engaged, right?" I sigh.

"Why is it always us? Have you noticed that we've been playing couples since we got to high school? Even when we each had like one line in freshman year, we were required to hold hands and act like we were married," he says, as we shuffle towards the dressing room. I swap out my costume for the one I wear earlier in act one, and dart out on stage with Percy waiting backstage. The ensemble, and Silena all stand around this old podium that Chiron managed to swipe from somewhere. I open my mouth and begin to sing again. Percy comes out on his cue and I throw myself into the songs and make them sound as emotional as possible. By the end, I can hear some quiet sniffles backstage, and as I run off, I pass Percy in full scarecrow costume. The pale screen flies down over the stage, and Hazel Levesque, the only one in the show who's small enough to play Dorothy, splashes Reyna with water, and Reyna pretends to melt off stage to do her last change of costume. I fly out on my bubble in darkness as Percy stumbles onstage for the finale.

"That's a wrap!" Chiron calls as I run onstage, holding the skirts of my dress up so I don't ruin it.

"Great work today! Be back at noon tomorrow, because we have two shows tomorrow!" Thalia says.

"Stay safe everyone!" Chiron says.

"Hey, can you unzip me?" I ask Percy.

"Yeah." he mutters, unzipping the back of my dress. I go back to the dressing room and yank my shirt over my head and step out of the dress, leaving me in my shorts. I wipe off my makeup and grab my backpack out of the corner. I wait out in the hallway. Percy comes up to me, wiping off his scarecrow makeup. "So, I'm dropping you off at home, right?" he asks.

"Yeah, don't go in the driveway though. Mom's home," I say.

"Yeah. so where are we practicing? It's not like we'll be able to do anything with your mom there," he replies.

"My bedroom. I'll tell her we're running songs or something," I say.

"Cool. my mom's not expecting me home for another hour or so," he says as we walk out to his beat up old Prius. We sit in silence for awhile.

"Hey, this won't be too bad," I say, as we walk into my house.

"Who's there?" mom asks.

"It's me, mom. Percy and I are practicing for tomorrow," I reply, leading Percy up the stairs towards my bedroom.

"Where are your brothers?" he asks. There's a crash and a couple screams from downstairs.

"There's the twins," I sigh.

"And Malcolm?" he asks as I shut my door.

"He's at a debate team competition. At least, I _think_ he is," I sigh, flopping onto my bed. Percy sits at my desk.

"Okay, so this is really awkward," he says.

"Come on, I don't bite. Come over here," I say, sitting up. He moves and sits beside me.

"Alright, I guess. Let's get this over with," he sighs, leaning in. I follow his lead and try not to freak out. Butterflies start to flutter in my stomach. _Oh god oh god oh god what's happening to me? I can't be falling for Percy! He's been my best friend since elementary school! My really, really cute best friend, but still! He's like my brother!_ I pull back a little bit and stare at him with slightly hazy vision. His face is bright red.

"Well then. That was _something_ ," I whisper. He nods, and his forehead hits mine.

"You felt that… thing too, right?" he mutters.

"Yeah. we really should get back to practicing though," I reply.

"Yeah." he replies, and he leans in again. My hands go to his hair and I hear the front door open and close. _It's probably just Mal. No need to get worried._ Percy pulls back. "Hey, are you alright? We don't have to keep doing this if you don't want to." he whispers.

"It's good practice, " I mutter, leaning in. there are footsteps on the stairs, but I figure it's probably just the twins heading to bed, so I don't pull away.

"Hey, sis have you seen the-" Malcolm says, opening my bedroom door. Percy and I spring apart, and Percy rubs the back of his neck nervously. _I forgot to lock my door! How stupid can I get?_ My face goes bright red. "oh, was I interrupting something? I'll just go," Malcolm says, trying to turn but I leap up and drag him into the room.

"Listen, you can _not_ tell anyone about this, especially not our parents. Okay?" I say.

"Mom said you two were practicing for the show tomorrow. I wasn't expecting to walk in on my only sister making out with her best friend in her bedroom. You two have something to tell me?" Malcolm says, raising his eyebrow.

"We were practicing. There was an _accident_ during dress rehearsal, and long story short, Chiron wants us to kiss in every show. We were trying to make things seem as not awkward as possible before tomorrow," Percy says.

"Yeah. Honestly Mal! We're not dating! We're just trying to get our characters right!" I say.

"Whatever. I don't need to know about your love life." he says, leaving the room.

"Hey, I gotta go. See you tomorrow for coffee?" Percy says. I nod. I wait for the front door to shut behind him before putting on pajamas and going to sleep.

(Time Skip)

Percy and I walk into the auditorium hand in hand at 11: 55, laughing and clutching our almost empty coffee cups. Everyone there stares at us.

"No way! He actually did it?" I laugh, talking about Percy's older brother, Triton, who filled a friend's pool with Jello one fall and jumped in it the next spring.

"Yeah! They had to drain the pool!" he says.

"Oh my god!" I say.

"Hey, I'm going to get my makeup done. See you soon," I say, letting go of his hand any hurrying off to the dressing room.

"So what's up between you and Jackson? Did you finally confess your _undying_ love to each other?" Thalia says. I jump.

"Shut up Thalia. We're just friends," I say, putting on foundation.

"That's not what I saw," Piper says, applying lipstick.

"You both looked ten minutes from literally jumping each other's bones," Rachel says, from where she's working with Hazel's hair.

"Gross! He's my best friend!" I say.

"That's not what I saw during _I'm Not That Girl_ yesterday," Hazel says.

"That was an accident," I say.

"How in the _fuck_ do you accidentally make out with someone?" Silena says, drawing on the most ridiculous eyebrows she can.

"Communication issues before a stage kiss. Trust me, it's beyond tense between us right now," I say, putting on false lashes. I run my fingers through my hair and pin my bangs back with a silver clip. I run out of the dressing room and into Percy's chest.

"Woah, you alright?" he says, grabbing my arms.

"Yeah. everyone thinks we're dating now," I sigh.

"Yeah. the guys still think I'm lying when I tell them that we're just friends," he says.

"It's ridiculous, honestly! Thalia says that we've finally confessed our 'undying' love to each other," I say. Percy snickers.

"Undying love, thats hilarious! We literally walked in the same way we do every weekend practice," he laughs.

"The only difference is the kiss. And yesterday evening, but they don't need to know about that," I mutter.

"Agreed. Honestly, can you imagine how bad that'd be?" he says.

"I had to pay Malcolm 100 bucks to keep him quiet. Of course, I stole it from his wallet, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him," I say.

"That's my girl," he says, running a hand through my hair. I stick my tongue out in response, and he does the same.

"Not dating, my ass! Look at this," Thalia says from behind me. Percy jumps.

"Hi girls," Percy chuckles. I turn around.

"Nice try Thalia, but we're _still_ not dating, no matter what you say," I say.

"You're hiding something. I can tell," a guy in monkey makeup says. He's only about an inch taller than Percy, so I assume it's Thalia's younger brother, Jason.

"What? No we're not!" Percy says.

"Seems awfully suspicious, just like when I found you two sleeping in the light booth last year in between performances," the taller boy in monkey prosthetics , Frank Zhang, says. He and Jason move over to the girls.

"Oh, come on! We were tired! It's not like we _did_ anything!" I say.

"Yeah right," Piper says.

"What about earlier this year when I walked in on you and Jason in the boy's dressing room?" Percy says.

"Jase, you _dog_!" Leo says, slapping his back.

"Children! Settle down! Get into costume!" Chiron says.

"You're definitely hiding something," Piper says, helping me into my ballgown. I make sure the sleeves are attached and then help Piper into her costume.

"You're right," I sigh.

"Ha! She admits it!" Hazel says, putting on her costume.

"Yes. Percy and I, we're more than best friends," I say.

"Ha! I knew you two are dating!" Silena says as she attaches her bustle to her shorts.

"We're _Super Ultra Mega Best Friends_. I'm sorry for keeping this from you," I say, struggling to keep a straight face.

"I hate you," Lacy, one of our makeup/hair artists, says from where she's painting Reyna's chest green.

"I was simply being honest with all of you. I feel like I owe you all my utmost honesty," I say.

"So you wouldn't mind if I dated him?" Rachel says, tightly braiding Reyna's hair. I try to withhold my jealousy. "I'm sorry, but that boy is _hot_." _No no no no Rachel can't date him!_

"Gross. He's cute, I guess, but he's such a _dork_ ," I say.

"Places," Thalia whispers, poking her head into the room. I dash across the stage and over to my bubble. Percy stands awkwardly behind me.

"Hey, break a leg," he says.

"Thanks," I say, as Nyssa wires me up and tapes my mic to my face.

"We need to talk. Intermission?" he says.

"See you then. Remember, we have to act totally in love during _I'm Not That Girl_ ," I say.

"Got it," he says.

"Oh! I told the girls that we were hiding the fact that we became super ultra mega best friends last night. They were so pissed," I giggle.

"Nice. Sorry we won't have time to talk until after I have to make out with you," he sighs.

"It's cool," I say, as I sit on my bubble. Percy gives a mock salute as I get hoisted into the air. Hazel looks up and waves from where she is onstage. I flash a smile and prepare to start singing. My bubble lowers to the ground in the middle of the stage for some reason, but I improv it off, and nobody seems to really notice. I introduce Elphaba and run off to change costumes as quickly as possible, making it out on time, and everything goes off without a hitch. It finally gets to _Dancing Through Life_ , and I manage to make it through the dance part, and then Percy and I go off to our own corner of the stage. What's odd is that, although Will shines his large spotlight on Travis and Katie, Kayla shines her spotlight on Percy and I. _That isn't supposed to happen!_

"Ready?" I whisper.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he mutters, putting his hands on my waist, and pulling me in towards him. My hands find his hair once again, and I can hear whistling from the crowd, and applause. _Ignore it. Keep going. Get this done._

"Miss Upland," I hear a voice from behind me say. Silena's behind me, and I can see her fighting to keep a straight face. I act through the scene as emotionally as possible, and then watch as Reyna comes thundering in. G _o time._ I go dance with Reyna for a bit before Percy taps my shoulder and I have to dance with him. _Oh right! We have to kiss here too! How'd we miss that?_ I lean up and kiss him as the music ends, so we're required to freeze like that as the curtain closes. As soon as it does, we spring apart. Beckendorf and Shane wheel out two beds for the next scene.

"Sorry 'bout that," I say.

"It's fine. It was, umm… a good idea?" he says, his face turning beet red.

"Umm… thanks," I say, as Silena grabs my arm.

"And you say you're just friends," she says.

"We are just friends," I sigh.

"When you two get _that_ into kissing? yeah right," she snorts.

"Look, I gotta go to the next scene," I mutter. She runs off along with everyone but Reyna and I, who sit on our little fake beds as the curtain opens. I go through my lines, making sure I sound as airy as possible, and then undo Reyna's tight braid. Then I get to my feet and stand at center stage to sing the first part of _Popular_. After that, I _really_ ham it up, prancing around the stage, doing intentionally horrible cartwheels, et cetera. The entire audience is laughing as I pretend to trip in front of Reyna, who's sitting back on her bed, watching and laughing. Then Reyna runs off, with a pink flower pin stuck in her hair. I get to sing the rest of the song facing offstage in the direction she went. The curtain closes, and a couple of ensemble girls swarm me and help me change into my costume. I go onstage and pretend to chatter excitedly to a couple of people as Percy delivers his lines to Reyna. I dance with the rest of the group as Reyna and Percy run off, then I go off stage to get on the catwalk. Percy runs by, clutching the cage. He passes it off to someone and joins me.

"Hey, nice work," I say.

"Thanks, you too," he replies, grabbing my hand. We walk out on the bridge and I pretend to point out something off in the distance. My hands go to Percy's shoulders and I lean in to kiss him again. The thunder sound goes off, and we run off. I get back onstage with Katie, Travis, and Reyna, and we do our little scene, before Percy comes out with flowers. I grab Reyna's hand and pull her off stage as the ensemble comes back. I unfasten my overcoat, and Reyna rips off her white jacket before buttoning herself into a plain black dress. We link arms, and skip back onstage for _One Short Day_. The song finishes and the scene changes again. This time, Luke stands behind this huge metal-looking face thing. He comes out and sings his short little piece, and I have to choke down my expression of disgust when he grabs my hand. Percy looks positively _murderous_ backstage. Reyna sprints past me. _I guess it's time to move._ I run off stage and see Reyna getting harnessed and prepped to fly. _Last song of Act 1, and you don't even have to sing much! C'mon, you can do it!"_ As soon as Reyna's said her line, I start singing. When Reyna finally starts to fly, she floats slowly towards the center of the stage and flies up as high as she can from there. As the music ends, we freeze, and the curtain closes.

"There will be a fifteen minute intermission as we prepare for Act Two. thank you for your support, and please watch your step when exiting the theatre," Chiron says. I rush back into the dressing room and grab my costume, a bluish green, poofy dress. _Calypso really can work magic with a sewing machine._ Since Silena's mom owns a fabric shop, we get all the fabric for our costumes for free. I slip into costume and wander onstage with my water bottle. Percy comes up to me, already in full costume, with his water.

"Hey," I say.

"We need to talk. Alone," he says. We climb up on the catwalk, and nobody notices we're there. They're all talking below us.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Why is this so hard to say?" he mutters.

"What is it? I can't read your mind, Percy. You're going to have to talk," I sigh.

"It's just, things have been… weird since the kiss. I can't look at you without feeling like there are a bunch of little butterflies in my stomach. And everyone's saying that we're secretly dating, and maybe I'm going crazy, because I actually _think_ about it, and it doesn't sound like such a bad idea, and-" he says, before I cut him off with a kiss. I can _feel_ him smiling, and I start smiling too. He's the one that pulls back first, and we both end up just staring at each other and grinning.

"You're cute when you're worried. Your eyebrows get all scrunched together. And you're not crazy, because I think about it too. It wouldn't be that hard to start a secret relationship, considering that we're already best friends and we spend most of our time together. The only problem I'd see is controlling our emotions in public," I say.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that I looked beyond _pissed_ when Luke held your hand. Should we try it?" He says.

"Yeah, let's do it," I say.

"We should probably go. Thalia's starting to look for us," Percy says, grabbing my hand and pulling me off the catwalk. Both of us still have the dopiest grins on our face.

"Wipe off the smiles! People will be suspicious!" I hiss. Percy's smile drops off of his face, and mine does too.

"Hey guys," Percy yawns, before taking a sip of water.

"Where have you been? We were worried sick!" Silena says from under Beckendorf's arm.

"Chill, we were just talking!" I say.

"Oh, I'm sure you did a lot of _talking_ ," Piper says.

"Talking about what?" Hazel says, obviously trying to catch us in a lie.

"Things, " Percy says.

"Our relationship status," I shrug.

"What?" Thalia shrieks.

"Yeah, we're more than friends now. We're _super ultra mega best friends_ ," Percy says.

"I hate you both," Jason says.

"Aww, thanks bro," Percy says. Thalia checks her watch.

"Everyone in position!" She calls. I stand at the podium, with Percy on my one side and Silena on my other. My hands start to shake.

"Hey, are you alright? There's no need to be nervous. You'll do great," Percy whispers, squeezing my hand. I smile up at him.

"Thanks, " I say. Silena starts squealing on my left.

"I'm sorry, you two are _adorable_ ," she says. Percy and I blush bright red.

"We're not dating, Silena," I sigh. _Well, we are, but she doesn't need to know that. Nobody besides Percy and I can know right now. That teasing would be merciless._ The lights go dark in the theatre, and the ensemble gets into position in front of the curtain. Thalia runs off stage. They draw the audience back in, and sit down in the rows of seats for the little town meeting thing we're supposed to be having. I open my mouth and say my little line before starting _Thank Goodness_. Silena shoves us out of the way to sing her part, so we go towards the the side of the stage. Percy runs off the stage on his cue, and I go back to the podium for my last part. I make sure to give the hugest smile I can at the end. When the curtain drops, I help Harley drag the podium offstage as Luke and Beckendorf pull the wizard prop onstage. I go backstage and get into my next costume before hightailing it over to Percy and the others. Hazel's attaching the red ribbons to her hair and smoothing out her dress, since she has to be Dorothy soon. I squeeze Percy's hand.

"Ready to stop being engaged?" I mutter.

"It's the highlight of the show," he replies, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah. Wait, _As Long As You're Mine_ is soon," I say.

"What's wrong with- oh. _Oh._ Just warning you, I'm going to have to kiss Reyna. Please don't be mad," he whispers.

"I know. I'm not mad at you. It's not your fault. I'll try to control the jealousy, okay?" I whisper.

"Great. You're the best, did I ever tell you that?" He says.

"Well duh, you are talking to _the_ Annabeth Chase." I whisper. by his point, Luke and Reyna are dancing onstage and singing as Grover, the show's Dr. Dillamond, attempts to sneak across stage. Of course, he gets caught by Reyna, and that's when she runs off again. Katie and Travis get onstage and Connor, Travis's almost identical brother, lies down under the table that's getting wheeled onstage. Travis is in his Boq costume, and Connor's dressed as the Tin Man so they can make the switch. Their scene goes off without a hitch, and they come backstage. The ensemble goes out and starts dancing as Percy and I dance onstage together. When Reyna comes onstage, and she and Percy run off, I channel my repressed jealousy into the song. I walk down the stairs leading offstage in the front, and I can see a couple people with tears in their eyes. _Wow. Apparently I can make people cry._ I sneak around to the dressing room and change back into my first costume.

"Damn Annabeth, I got chills. That was so good! How'd you manage to do that?" Thalia says, zipping up my costume.

"Really, I put myself in Glinda's shoes for a minute," I say, grabbing my wand. I walk outside just in time to see Reyna kiss Percy. _Hold in the anger. They're just doing their job._ Evidently, I'm not doing a good job, since Piper picks up on my scowl.

"No way. Are you _jealous_?" she says. I pretend to shake it off. _Pretend you're still empathizing with Glinda! Quick!_

"What? No! Why would I be? I was still empathizing with Glinda for a moment! You _know_ that I have a crush on Luke" I hiss.

"Okay," she says. _That was close!_ Hazel and I go onstage, as Nyssa helps roll a house onstage. Hazel faces backstage, holding a little basket. The lights turn on overhead, and I wave as Hazel skips off down the fake yellow brick road. Reyna comes onstage, and I pretend to fight with her. Percy comes swooping in to save the day, and he gets captured. As he gets dragged off, I stand there in silence. The curtain closes, and I rush to help get things offstage. Percy sits backstage, trying to put on his scarecrow mask.

"Hey, are you okay? You looked and sounded pretty upset," he whispers. I glance around and see that nobody's looking in our direction, so I kiss his temple before slipping on his straw hood thing and his mask.

"I'm fine. Nearly blew it during _As Long As You're Mine_ , but I made up some excuse about empathizing with my character," I say.

"I know it's hard, but we'll make it through this, okay?" he says. The ensemble is forming a mob onstage to go out and hunt Reyna, so I stand up and get ready to go onstage.

"Okay," I say, picking up my skirts and running onstage to act out my last meeting with Reyna's character. By the end of the song, I can hear some quiet sobbing in the audience. I grab the book and run off as the screen drops over the stage. I sit on my bubble and wait for the screen to come back up before floating on as the ensemble celebrates. Percy stumbles onto the stage, and Reyna reappears. They grab hands and start walking offstage as I finish up my lines and sing my last line. the curtain falls, and I get brought back down. Percy rips off his hat and scarecrow mask as bows start. The curtain rises, and the ensemble runs out and bows. Then Jason and Frank go out, then Silena and Luke, then Percy, then Reyna and I. The applause is deafening, and I can't help but grin. The entire cast points to the stage crew before bowing one last time. The curtain shuts, and Thalia thanks everyone for coming, before we change out of our costumes. Chiron wheels himself onstage after we're all ready to leave.

"Great work everyone! Be back at six thirty for our next show!" he says. I sigh in relief.

"Let's go get food. We've got four hours until we need to be back," I say.

"I vote pizza," Percy says.

"Pizza it is!" I chuckle. Percy gets in the driver's seat of his car and we drive off.

"Are your parents coming to tonight's show?" he says.

"Yeah, are yours?" I ask.

"Yeah," he replies, driving with one hand and holding my hand with the other.

"We really need to be more careful. We nearly got caught so many times," I sigh.

"Umm, I think Silena's following us," he says.

"Oh great. No couple things. That's cool," I sigh.

"It's fine," he says, as we pull into the parking lot.

"Pizza here we come!" I say, pulling open the door and walking inside.

"I'm paying," he says, pulling out his wallet.

"What? No! I'll pay," I say.

"You paid for coffee, I'm paying for this," he says, before ordering and paying. We go to find a booth, and we find one by the window. Silena, Thalia, Jason, Piper, Beckendorf, Hazel, and Frank walk in.

"Oh hi guys! Fancy seeing you here," Thalia says. I groan and slam my head on the table.

"Oh no you don't! We've got a show tonight, and Chiron would kill me if I let you get brain damage," Percy says.

"So, are you guys on a _date_?" Piper asks.

"What? Eww, no! Percy's like my brother! We just wanted pizza!" I say. Percy gets up, grabs our order, and sits back down.

"So, how bad do you think tonight will be?" Percy says. I kick his shin."ow! I'm just saying. Your mom hates me, and my dad hates you. They're going to see us kiss at least three times. It won't be pretty."

"Shit, you're right. We didn't think of that!" I say, starting on my second slice.

"Yeah. Well, I guess we're winging it." Percy says. I choke down the rest of the slice."Slow down! You'll choke!"

"No she won't," Piper says, wiggling her eyebrows. Percy tenses, so I put my hand on top of his.

"Not worth it," I whisper. He relaxes.

"Don't think we didn't see that. There's definitely something going on between you two," Hazel says.

"Do we tell them?" Percy whispers. I shake my head.

"Tell us what?" Frank says.

"Oh, nothing much, we're just-" I say, before Percy covers my mouth.

"Just what? Tell us!" Silena says.

"Fine, but you can't tell _anyone_ about this, understand?" Percy says. Silena is practically vibrating with excitement.

"Wait, what?" Jason says.

"Oh! Look at the time! Time to make like a banana and split!" I say, grabbing Percy's hand and running off. We speed off and get out of there as quickly as possible.

"What happened to keeping it quiet?" Percy says.

"I'm sorry. It's just, I can't help but want to announce it. I just want to tell someone, _anyone_ about this," I sigh.

"I get it, I want to tell people too. But we need to tell one person we both trust. otherwise, our parents will find out," he says, holding my hand.

"Where are we going?" I say.

"I don't know. How does hanging out at school for a while sound?" he says.

"Sounds great," I say. The sunlight streams through the window and lights Percy's face, and he looks like one of those stereotypical gifs of a hot guy. _I can't believe I'm dating him. Rachel's right. He is hot._

"Annabeth, are you okay? You've kind of been staring at me," he says.

"Oh, sorry. Just lost in thought. Sorry for worrying you," I say, facing forward.

"Tell me, what's going on in that pretty blonde head of yours?" he says.

"Trying to figure out if we should ever tell anyone. Thinking logically, it's only a matter of time before someone catches us. What will we do when that happens?" I say.

"I don't know. I just know that no matter what, I'll be right by your side," he says as we pull into the parking lot.

"Let's go convince people that we aren't dating," I say.

"Wait. one last kiss before we have to act like we're just friends?" Percy says. I lean across the armrest and kiss him quickly before anyone notices that we're out here.

"Now, we really do need to go," I sigh, before unbuckling my seatbelt and opening the door. We walk in, talking excitedly about tonight.

"Wait, isn't someone from the school newspaper coming to review tonight's show?" he says.

"Yeah. Isn't Valentina Diaz the one who's reviewing tonight? Because she's the one who talks about how the actors portray romance," I say.

"This just got a lot harder to hide," he says.

"Just do it the way we've practiced, and we should be fine," I sigh. There's a loud thud in the light booth, followed by two loud giggles.

"Why do I feel like Leo and Calypso are up there making out?" I say.

"What?" Percy says.

"Damn, you really are clueless! They've been doing their weird unofficial relationship thing since last year," I say.

"Wow," he says, climbing onto the stage.

"Oh, Percy, Annabeth! Would you mind putting together playbills for me? There are two boxes, and I have some staplers," Chiron says.

"No problem, we'd be happy to help. C'mon Jackson," I say, grabbing his hand and pulling him off towards the two boxes. I grab one, and he grabs the other. Chiron wheels himself out of the auditorium. We work in silence for awhile, until Percy breaks the silence.

"What time is it?" he asks. I check my phone.

"4:25," I say, before stapling together another playbill.

"Cool," he says, moving his box over to me and scooting over. We're both almost done.

"Who are we going to tell?" I sigh a few minutes later, stapling my last playbill.

"I don't know." he says. I yawn. "How long have you been up?"

"Uh, since four am, I guess?" I yawn, putting my head in his lap.

"Go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we need to be getting ready," he yawns. I curl up and doze off as Percy leans back with his head against a chair. I can feel his hand running through my hair as I fall asleep to the sound of his breathing.

"Well, well, well, lookie here," a voice sneers. Percy jumps.

"Ugh, can this wait?" I groan, opening my eyes slightly. Luke stares down at me.

"What do you want _Castellan_?" Percy says. I elbow him.

"Annabeth, can we talk?" Luke says.

"Sure. just give me a minute," I shrug.

"I don't trust it," Percy mutters.

"I'll be fine," I whisper, getting to my feet and following Luke. he leads me out into the abandoned hallway.

"Annabeth. I really like you. Wanna go out sometime?" he says, grabbing my arm.

"No," I say. He slaps me across the face. I hold my cheek in shock.

"How _dare_ you reject me! I'm the _only_ chance you have at a relationship!" he yells.

"What?" I say.

"You heard me! I was only asking you out to be nice! You're too _hideous_ for anyone to actually want to date you!" He sneers. I wrench my arm free and run back to Percy, crying and holding my cheek. _Why am I crying? It's not like he raped me or anything!_ Percy stands up.

"What happened? Annabeth, move your hand so I can see," Percy says as I sob into his chest.

"H-he asked me out, but I said no, and he slapped me," I stammer, moving my hand.

"That's going to bruise. That _bastard_. I'm going to kill him. Cmon, we're going to tell Chiron," he says. We run towards Chiron's office, and Percy opens the door.

"Good heavens children! What happened?" Chiron says. I tell him what happened while Percy squeezes my hand. My sobs are quieter by this point, and my quiet hiccupping is the only sound in the room for awhile.

"What do we do?" Percy says, wiping my tears away with the sleeve of his jacket.

"We have an ice pack for Annabeth's cheek, but we can't replace Luke in the show. You can stand far away from him. I'll make sure everyone knows about this change so that they know how to light the scene. We won't be allowing Luke within a ten foot radius of you anymore," Chiron says.

"Thank you Chiron," I say.

"I wish that I could be of more assistance," he says.

"You've done more than enough," Percy says as I press the ice pack into my cheek.

"I'm killing him," Percy says as we head back to the stage.

"Hey, listen to me. I'm fine. A little shaken up, but I'm fine," I say, holding Percy's face.

"He _hit_ you, Annabeth. That isn't okay!" he says.

"He hit me because he isn't used to rejection, but of course I rejected him! Blondes aren't my type, anyway," I say.

"I'm still sorry I didn't stop it," he says.

"Listen to me. This isn't your fault," I say, before kissing him.

"Oh. _now_ I understand why you rejected me. You're into _Jackson_." Luke says from behind me. Neither of us pull back. _Well, this is one way for us to get caught. I'm not even going to bother trying to get out of this one._ "Okay, you two can stop now," he says. I pull back.

"Oh thank god! Thanks for helping me get Luke off my back," I say to Percy.

"Umm, Beth?" Percy says.

"He's right behind me, isn't he?" I say.

"Yep," Percy sighs.

"Dammit! We almost got away with it too!" I say.

"Oh, it's 5:30. We've got to get all those playbills packed up," Percy says.

"Let's go," I say, pressing the ice pack to my cheek. We walk away from Luke, and wait until we're out of earshot to start talking again.

"That was quick thinking by the way," he says.

"Thanks. We really do need to be more careful though," I sigh.

"Yeah. this is going to be harder than I thought," he says.

"I've been thinking. When, if ever, are we going to tell our friends?" I sigh, putting stacks of playbills into the box.

"I have no idea. I figure we shouldn't confirm or deny it. They can figure it out on their own," he says.

"Sounds good. What if Luke tells them about the hallway?" I say.

"Oh god, I forgot about that," he says.

"Umm… we could say that it was to get Luke off my back?" I shrug.

"That might actually work," he says.

"Plus, we can act more like a couple as long as Luke's around!" I say.

"That is true. Good plan," he sighs, lifting a full box.

"So we're going to tell our friends that we're fake dating, but we'll actually be dating? Okay! I hope this works," I sigh.

"It will. Don't worry. We're Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase! When's the last time our plans haven't worked?" he says.

"Umm… last month? You know, the clown plan? But I appreciate the optimism," I say, as we put our boxes by the table where Chiron is.

"Oh! It's six!" Percy says, looking at a clock.

"What? Already?" I say. Silena comes in along with everyone who was in her minivan.

"Oh, they're here," Percy says.

"Hey guys!" Silena says.

"Guys, we need to talk," I say, gesturing to the green room. We all go in, and Percy shuts the door behind everyone.

"What happened to your cheek?" Thalia says.

" _Luke_ ," Percy says through clenched teeth.

"What? He hit you? I'll skin him alive!" Frank says.

"I already have first dibs," Percy growls.

"So, what happened?" Jason says.

"Well, Percy and I were backstage stapling together playbills," I say.

"Actually, we were sleeping," Percy interrupts.

"Not important. Anyways, Luke asked me out, and I told him no, because I'm just not into him, then he slapped me and told me that he was my only chance at a relationship. And here we are now," I say.

"What a scumbag," Beckendorf says.

"Wait, there's one more thing. Percy and I are… dating? Yeah, dating," I say.

"What?" Piper shrieks.

"Not really, though. It's more of a fake thing to keep Luke off my back," I shrug. There's a bunch of grumbling.

"Yeah, so we're going to have to act all lovey dovey around Luke, because we need him to stay _far_ away," Percy says.

"It's awkward, but hey, if it keeps Luke from coming near me, it's okay," I say.

"This is going to suck," Percy sighs, slumping against the wall. I put my hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be fine. We're a team. This is just until after we stop doing _Wicked_ and at the end of the show party, because Chiron isn't letting Luke do any more plays after this. We can do it," I say.

"Alright. Let's go convince that asshole that we're dating," Percy says as Thalia and the others leave.

"Nice work," I whisper.

"Thanks, I try," he says, grabbing my hand.

"As long as they think neither of us are happy about this, we should ward off suspicion," I say.

"Yeah. Is your cheek okay?" he says.

"I'll be fine Percy. I've broken ribs before. A little bruise is nothing," I say.

"I can't help it. You know I worry sometimes," he says.

"I know. Things are… different now. I get it. I do. We can't help but worry about each other more than everyone else. But, I'll tell you what. If I'm ever in trouble, you'll be the first person I tell. Deal?" I say.

"Deal," he replies, pulling open the door to the auditorium.

"Oh, hi _Luke_ ," I say, waving my free hand. He glares at Percy.

"What are you staring at me for?" Percy says.

"I think he's upset that he's wrong," I say, shrugging.

"Okay, you must not have told me something. What'd he say?" Percy says.

"He said he only asked me out to be nice, and that I'm too hideous for anyone to actually want to be in a relationship with me," I shrug. Percy tenses.

" _What_?" he whispers.

"Listen. I'm fine. Besides, what he said was wrong," I say.

"True. I mean, we are dating, so umm… yeah, Luke? not cool. And if you ever touch her again, I'll kill you. Do I make myself clear? Good. see you around," Percy says.

"Sweetie, if he touches me again, I'll kill him myself. But you can deal with him after I'm done," I smile.

"Everyone! Start getting ready!" Thalia calls.

"See you soon?" I say.

"Yeah,"Percy says, before bending down and kissing me.

"Jackson! Chase! Stop making out and get into costume! We've got a show to perform!" Thalia says. Percy and I turn bright red.

"So… umm," I say.

"later?" Percy says, before we split and run into our separate dressing rooms. I ignore the wolf whistles and get to work, applying my makeup and getting into costume. My phone vibrates in my backpack.

"So, you and Percy seemed pretty cozy," Rachel says, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Not. A. Word. We're not even actually dating. It's just to get Luke off my back," I say.

"The kiss?" Lacy says.

"Stage kiss. Meant nothing," I shrug.

"The handholding?" Rachel says.

"Friends hold hands! And Pipes, is my bruise visible?" I say.

"Nope. you're good," Piper says.

"What happened? Why are you bruised?" Rachel says.

"Luke slapped me for rejecting him," I shrug.

"So that's why you and Percy are fake dating," Reyna says.

"Yeah. keeps Luke away," I say.

"Good idea," Rachel says.

"It's slightly awkward, but as long as I don't get hit, I'm okay. I can do awkward," I say, putting on my character shoes. I leave the dressing room and hightail it over to my bubble.

"How awkward was the dressing room for you?" Percy asks.

"It wasn't that bad. People understood my reasons. How about you?" I say.

"Since Luke was there, I couldn't say anything. It was so _awkward_ ," he says.

"Aww, I'm sorry! It wouldn't be this awkward if I had been more careful where I kissed you," I say.

"It's cool. I liked it," he shrugs. Piper and the others come over to us.

"So how's the happy couple?" Piper says.

"Ha ha ha. Very funny," Percy grumbles.

"Oh, do you need to be laced up?" I say, standing up.

"Yeah. I _despise_ corsets," she says. I tighten the corset. Percy cringes.

"That looks unpleasant," he says.

"It is. I had to corset for Phantom of the opera. Remember the bruises all over my torso?" I say, tying the ribbons.

"Yep," he shudders.

"Thanks Annabeth," she says. I sit back on my bubble.

"So, Thalia and I were thinking about throwing a party tonight at our place," Jason says.

"I can't stay too late. We have school tomorrow," I sigh.

"So how about next week?" Jason says. There's some nods, and then I start getting lifted up.

"Bye! Break a leg," I whisper. Percy salutes before wandering off. The show goes off without a hitch. In the very back of my mind, I'm aware of my family and Percy's family watching us kiss onstage a few times, but I'm too preoccupied with my role to care. I can hear some sobs in the crowd as I sing the reprise of _I'm Not That Girl_ , and I rush offstage and get ready for my next scene. Silena high fives me, and I smirk. We make it through the rest of the show, and I see Luke try and come over to me after we take our final bows and the curtain closes. Percy makes it over first.

"Oh, hey Luke," Percy says.

"Jackson," Luke says, nodding his head.

"What's up?" I say, making my hands into fists.

"Look, I wanted to apologize. What I said was wrong. I'm giving you one last chance. Dump Jackson and agree to go out with me," Luke says. Percy frowns beside me.

"Are you crazy? There's no way in heaven or hell I'd break up with Percy!" I say, clenching my hands so tightly that my fingernails leave little crescent moon shaped dents in my palms. Percy puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Calm down Wise Girl." he mutters. I relax a little, and smile up at him."better?"

"Much better," I say.

"Great," he says.

"I still want to strangle him, but I'm fine," I say

"Alright! There are several people who want to meet our actors, so get on out there and greet them!" Thalia says.

"That's our cue, I guess," Frank says. We walk offstage and into the crowds of people. I can hear a woman and a man screaming at each other. Percy cringes. A little girl comes up to me.

"Hi! Your dress is so pretty!" She says.

"Looks like you've got a fan," Percy chuckles.

"I know, right? It's like a girl's dream princess dress!" I say.

"I want to be an actress! What's it like?" The girl says.

"Honestly, it's the greatest thing in the world. Your cast mates become your second family. It's tiring sometimes, but the feeling you get when performing is one of the greatest things I've ever felt," I say.

"You don't seem anything like your characters," the girl says.

"That's what's so great about acting. When you act, you can be anything or anyone you want to be," I say.

"Thank you!" The girl says, before running off.

"Wow, she was cute," Percy says.

"Yep, I get more cute girls than you ever will," I snicker.

"Ha ha ha. So funny," he deadpans. Two girls about my age come up to Percy.

"You've got fans too, I guess," I shrug.

"Umm, hi?" He says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as they stare at him.

"You're cute," one of them says after a moment.

"Umm, thanks?" He says. One girl starts twirling her hair around her finger. Percy just stands there staring over towards the light booth. I stare at a spot on the floor.

"So, my friend here wanted to know if you're doing anything tomorrow," the girl who isn't twirling her hair says. I look up and glare at both of them.

"I'm pretty busy, and if you're trying to ask me out, I kind of have a girlfriend who could theoretically kill me… so um, I'll have to pass. Sorry!" He says.

"Ugh, I told you that he was too cute to be single!" One of the girls says, stalking off.

"Girlfriend? Since when were we exclusive?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I, umm… you know, I uh," he says rubbing the back of his neck.

"Relax, I would have said yes if you'd have asked," I say.

"Cool. So, will you? Become official?" He says. I laugh and nod.

"I see our families," I say, grabbing his arm and dragging him over. My dad and brothers stand awkwardly behind my mother, who's screaming at Percy's dad. Sally waves awkwardly.

"Hi guys, what's going on?" I say.

"Like my daughter would actually want to kiss your son!" Mom screams.

"Percy! Annabeth! Can I talk to you two for the article?" Valentina says, with Reyna hot on her heels. I shrug.

"Sure," Percy sighs.

"So, what's it been like performing one of the best known broadway musicals?" Valentina says.

"Do you want all of us to answer, or no," Reyna says. Valentina nods.

"I'll go first, I guess. It's a bit crazy. I'm glad I got the chance to do this with my friends, instead of people I don't know all that well," Percy says.

"For me, it's been like a dream. Percy could probably tell you that my dream role growing up was Glinda, so playing her before I've even graduated high school is an amazing opportunity," I say.

"For me, it was a bit stressful. Playing one of the most well known villains in history, and making her look sympathetic? Pretty difficult. Not to mention, having to act out a love triangle with these two? They've been playing couples since freshman year!" Reyna says.

"So, the love triangle. How awkward was that?" Valentina asks.

"Pretty weird, but Annabeth and I have been dealing with cast mates joking about these kinds of things for awhile, so I'm used to it," Percy says.

"It's pretty much a series of stage kisses and hand holding. It's not _terrible_ , but it's not great either. Like Percy said, you kind of get into a routine, and get used to it," I shrug.

"Yeah. I honestly feel bad for these two. I only have to kiss Percy once, but they've got to kiss three or four times. They seem to have gotten over how awkward it is though," Reyna says.

"Oh no we haven't. Things are really awkward, but it's getting better," Percy says.

"What's the hardest part of the show for you?" Valentina says.

"For me, it's probably the first song of the second act. I'm supposed to act like I have everything I've ever wanted, but halfway through, I have to act miserable. It's a bit jarring," I say.

"For me, it's my first song. I have to dance with Annabeth, and she'll kill me if I step on her toes," Percy says.

"Only because you've nearly broken my toes like ten times!" I say.

"Guys, can you stay on track? Anyways, for me, it's probably the last song of Act One. I have to fly, and that's terrifying to me," Reyna says.

"Thanks guys. Can I get a picture for the paper?" Valentina says, holding up her camera. We smile, and then do the most ridiculous picture we can. Percy's standing in the middle, I'm leaning on him while pretending to swoon, and Reyna's on his other side, balancing on one leg while crossing her eyes and puffing out her cheeks.

"We have to get our parents to stop fighting," Percy says, as we walk back out onto the floor. We start heading for our arguing parents hand in hand.

"So, the paper comes out on Tuesday, our next show is Thursday night, and we've got practice Monday," I say, squeezing his hand.

"Oh hi Dad," Percy says, waving with his free arm.

"What's going on over here?" I say.

"Annabeth, _what_ are you doing?" Mom says. Percy rolls his eyes.

"Well, I'm trying to figure out _why_ you're arguing with my friend's dad," I say.

"Annabeth, Percy, can you settle this? They're arguing about that… um… _kiss_ onstage. They say that you looked too happy to be doing it," Sally says.

"Which one? There were three," Percy says.

" _Three?_ " Mom shrieks. The audience is starting to clear out.

"We'll finish this conversation later," I say, before Percy and I run backstage to change into normal clothes.

"Hey Annabeth, we're going out for ice cream after we're done. Want to come?" Piper says.

"Might as well," I say, wiping off my makeup. I clean up my mess as quickly as possible and run outside to talk to Percy.

"Hi," he says. We're standing behind the curtains, out of sight from the dressing rooms.

"We're going out for ice cream with our friends," I whisper. Percy kisses me, and I smile into it.

"Percy? Annabeth? Where are you?" Silena says. I pull away and wince. Percy quickly crosses his arms over his chest. His shirt is wrinkled where my hands clutched the fabric. My hair's a mess, so I tug it into a bun.

"What was that for?" I say, biting my lip.

"Because I've been waiting to do that all day. Cmon we have to get Silena," he says with a smirk.

"Sil! We're over here!" I shout. Silena comes over.

"Oh there you are! Are you okay riding together?" Silena says.

"Yeah," I shrug. We head out to Percy's car and I climb into the passenger seat. Our friends climb into Silena's minivan and drive off.

"So. we're going to have to tell our parents at some point," Percy says, holding my hand with one hand and driving with the other.

"Yeah. And we're going to have to tell our friends. I'm nervous. I've never kept something like this from Thalia. What if she gets angry?" I say. Percy brings my hand to his lips.

"Chill babe. Thalia will be happy for us. We'll tell them someday, okay? But for now we have to keep it quiet," he says.

"Are you embarrassed by me?" I say quietly.

"What? No! You're perfect! I just want a bit of privacy. Our friends… well, they mean well, I just want to… um, you know, keep it between us long enough that our friends forget about yesterday. If that makes you uncomfortable, we can tell them, okay?" he says, pulling into the parking lot.

"Okay. I'm willing to put off telling them. Let's go convince them that we're fake dating," I say, opening the car door. We make our way over to our friends.

"There's the happy couple!" Silena chirps. I follow her gaze and see her watching Luke and his buddies at a table nearby. Percy laughs nervously and sits down. I sit down beside him and lean on his shoulder.

"Shut up," I say, feeling my face heat up. Percy's hand is on the small of my back, and I smile up at him. Piper squeals.

"Get a room you two," Thalia says. Luke and his buddies start walking towards our table.

"Screw off Thalia," Percy says, before I kiss him. Thalia gags.

"Oh- oh god that's gross, I didn't need to see that," Thalia says, fake gagging. I can hear the door open and close.

"Luke's gone," Silena says. I pull back and wipe at my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Thanks," I pant. Percy's still wiping his mouth.

"You did this out of spite, didn't you?" Thalia deadpans.

"Nope. Luke was coming," I shrug, scooting away from Percy. I try to ignore the cold feeling I get where Percy's hand used to be. His hand makes it over to mine, and I smile shyly as I took up at him through my eyelashes.

"I am _so_ not looking forward to school tomorrow," Hazel says. I groan.

"I tried to forget that we have school tomorrow," I say.

"What are we going to do?" Percy says.

"I don't know. With the whole _dating_ thing? I suppose we just go for business as usual. I'll request a partner change in science, so I don't have to work with Luke, and we're going to be okay. No PDA _whatsoever_ ," I say.

"Alright. I think that we can make this work," Percy says, intertwining our fingers. My face heats up a little. Frank says something, but I'm too busy staring into Percy's eyes.

"I'm sorry, what?" I say. Hazel snorts and then covers her mouth.

"Annabeth, you're blushing, are you okay?" Frank says.

"What, huh? Yeah! I'm fine!" I say. Percy smirks.

" _Sure_ ," he says.

"Shut it Jackson. I was just thinking," I say.

"About what?" Beckendorf says.

"What we do now. We didn't really think this whole plan through," I say. Percy moves his hand, dragging mine with it. Thalia raises an eyebrow at our intertwined hands, but she says nothing.

"Hey, look at me, Beth. We're going to be okay. We're going to get through this _together_. Who cares if the whole school thinks we're dating? At least you'll be safe," he says. I smile.

"Thanks," I say quietly. Percy grins.

"No problem," he says.

"Wait, so how did this even happen?" Piper says.

"Okay, so after we got pizza, we went back to the school. Chiron had us staple together playbills for the next performance. Annabeth fell asleep on me, and I dozed off. Luke woke us up, and asked Annabeth to talk with him over something. I _told_ her that I didn't trust it, but she went anyways," Percy says.

"So, I followed Luke out, he asked me out, but I said no-" I say.

"Wait, don't you have a crush on him?" Piper says. Percy scowls and glares at the table.

"No. I _used_ to, but I hate him with everything I've got now. Besides, I have a new crush," I say, looking at Percy and squeezing his hand. He gives a small smile.

 _Who?_ He mouths.

 _You. I've been over Luke for weeks,_ I mouth. He grins.

"So…" Thalia says.

"Oh, right! The story! So, I said no, but he grabbed my wrist and slapped me across the face before yelling at me. I managed to escape, and I ran back to Percy, who suggested that we try to keep Luke away, and we agreed on fake dating. So, he waited for Luke to come back and then asked me out," I say.

"And well, here we are!" Percy says.

"Okay. Annabeth, can you come with us to the bathroom?" Silena says. I nod and let go of Percy's hand before scooting out of the booth and towards the bathroom. Piper checks to make sure that the bathroom is empty.

"Alright. You said that you have a new crush. Spill," Thalia says.

"I-err," I stammer.

"Cmon girl! Spill! Who is it?" Hazel says. I cringe.

"We won't tell anyone, okay?" Piper says.

"I bet it's Percy," Silena says. My face heats up and I bite my lip.

"It is, isn't it? Oh my god!" Piper says. I think back to last night, when Malcolm caught us, and my face heats up even more.

"Is that a blush I see?" Thalia says. I slap my hands over my cheeks.

"Please don't tell anyone! He doesn't see me like that, and I don't want to ruin our friendship!" I say.

"Relax Annie. We won't tell him," Silena says.

"You really screwed up this time," Piper says.

"I know," I mutter.

"Believe me, Jackson likes you. Did you see his face when Piper asked if you had a crush on Luke?" Thalia says. I did, but I have to play along with this mess that I dragged myself into, so I shake my head.

"Look, I told you what you wanted to know. Can I go now?" I say.

"Fine, but we _will_ be talking about this later," Hazel says. I walk out of the bathroom. Percy smiles and waves me over to the table.

"Hey," he says, draping an arm over my shoulders. I start playing with his fingers.

"So, um, did I miss anything?" I say.

"Not much. Just guy stuff," he says. Jason clears his throat. Percy and I look up. I can see a pink tint to his cheeks.

"Sorry," I say, as my hand taps on Percy's knee.

"Anyways, you know how the basketball team won the other night? Well, did you see what Octavian did at the party?" Percy says, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"No, why? What'd he do?" I say.

"Just watch," he says, pressing play on a video. Octavian is curled up in a corner surrounded by dismembered stuffed animals and pillows. In his hand is a huge knife. He's stabbing it into what looks like a panda pillow.

"What-" I start.

"I don't know _why_ he decided that this was smart," Percy chuckles. The girls come back.

"Oh, hey guys!" I say. Thalia raises her eyebrow and stares at Percy's arm. I yawn.

"You still tired?" He says.

"A little," I say.

"I mean, it is getting kinda late. Maybe we should be heading home," he sighs.

"If you're having fun, we can stay," I yawn.

"We have school tomorrow. We should probably get some sleep," Frank says.

"Yeah," Percy says.

"Percy, you know as well as I do that neither of us are going to get much sleep. You're going to wake me up in the middle of the night to ask if Lightning McQueen buys car insurance or life insurance," I yawn.

"Okay, but _does_ Lightning McQueen buy car or life insurance?" Piper says.

"Who cares?" Thalia snaps. I close my eyes and lean onto Percy's shoulder.

"I guess she really was tired," Hazel says. Piper and Silena coo.

"That's adorable," Silena says.

"I'm going to take her home. Bye guys," Percy says. I feel an arm under my legs, and suddenly I'm no longer sitting. I hear the door open and close. I land on something soft, and feel a belt go across my chest. _We must be in the car!_ The ride is nearly silent. The car stops.

"Percy, where are we?" I say quietly. I yawn again and curl up tighter in my seat.

"Are you cold?" He says. I shiver a little. A piece of fabric lands on my legs. I pull it up to cover my chest and doze off again as the car starts to move. Percy hums to himself as the car turns and goes up a tiny hill before stopping. My seatbelt is unbuckled, and his door closes. The arm under my legs comes back, and I can hear Percy's heartbeat because my ear is pressed to his chest. He knocks on the door.

"Percy? What are you doing here?" Malcolm says.

"She fell asleep when we were out with friends, so I brought her home. Err, can I come in?" Percy says. I groan and bury my face in his shirt.

"Oh, sure. You know where her room is," Malcolm says. I bounce a little bit as we head upstairs. I feel my head hit my pillow, and the arms holding me up disappear.

"Good night Wise Girl," Percy says, pressing his lips to my forehead. I smile. The door closes behind him, and I fall asleep.

I jolt awake at the sound of my alarm. I get out of bed, moving Percy's jacket off of me. I shower, get dressed, brush my teeth, and sit back on my bed. Percy's jacket is in a heap at my feet. _Should I?_ I grab it and put it on.

"Annabeth, time to go!" Mom says. I run down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Thanks mom!" I say, grabbing an apple on the way out the door. I get to my bus stop with everyone else, and I take a bite out of the apple. The bus comes, and we get on. The jocks have already taken the back, so I take an empty seat towards the middle. The seat across the aisle is empty. The bus stops at the next stop. I place my backpack in the seat next to me before putting in my earbuds and staring out the window.

"Nice jacket," Percy says from the aisle. I move my backpack and scoot over a little bit to allow him in before taking out my earbuds.

"Good morning," I say.

"How'd you sleep?" he asks.

"Good. You?" I say.

"Good," he says.

"Is it just me, or do we seem a little _awkward_ today?" I say.

"Well, yeah. I don't quite know why. I mean, it's not like all that much has changed." he says. I raise an eyebrow. "Okay, you're right. A lot's changed in such a small amount of time. I just… really don't know where we go from here."

"We don't have to know just yet. We can figure it out," I say.

"Thanks. I guess that I'm just worried? So much happened this weekend, and now it's back to normal life, and I don't know how to handle it," he sighs.

"Seaweed Brain, we can handle it. A lot did happen, but we're going to be okay," I say, biting my lip.

"Stop biting your lip! Do you _know_ how difficult it is for me to focus when you do that?" Percy whispers. My face heats up.

"S-sorry," I stammer. I feel my lip pinch between my teeth. Percy's eyes travel down to my lip, and his face reddens a small bit.

"Oh, um, it's fine," he says. The bus pulls into the school.

"We're here!" I say, waving my hand in front of his eyes. We get out of the bus with everyone else, and start walking towards the school.

"How's your cheek?" He says.

"Still sore, but it's okay," I say.

"I'm still so sorry that I didn't stop him," he mutters.

"Luke's an ass. It's not your fault," I say, standing just a _bit_ closer to him than usual.

"But-" he starts.

"Shut your trap Jackson. It's not your fault that I got slapped," I interrupt. We get to his locker.

"I still feel guilty," he says.

"I'll see you in rehearsal, alright?" I say.

"Nah, lunch. Remember? Thalia's called that meeting in the choir room to discuss what we're performing for the previews on Wednesday. Or were you not paying attention?" He smirks, opening his locker.

"I was trying to calculate how big of a fall would kill someone about Luke's size," I shrug. His eyes widen.

"Damn, I knew you didn't like him, but that's a bit much!" he says.

"I'm going to head to my locker. See ya around." I say, before making my way down the hallway. Luke's leaning against my locker, so I sigh and wait for him to move. "Ugh, what do you want dipshit? You're in my way." I cross my arms and tap my foot.

"Look, can we talk?" He pleads.

"Are you _insane_? No! You lost the right to _talk_ when you slapped me across the face and then insulted my boyfriend!" I say.

"At least give me a chance," he pleads, grabbing my hands.

"Ugh, let go of me!" I say. Percy rounds the corner.

"Not until you give me an answer," Luke says. I bring my knee up between his legs, and he cries out in pain.

"how's that for an answer you douchebag?" I say with a sickeningly sweet grin. I bump him out of the way with my hip and start putting my things in my locker. A shadow looms over me, and I can hear a deep voice humming a song from the musical. The hood of Percy's jacket flops into my eyes. I glance down to see a pair of beat up converse. "Hey Seaweed Brain." I say.

"How'd you know?" he says.

"I bought you those shoes, and you've been playing with the hood of the jacket all day," I say, closing my locker.

"Guilty as charged." he says as I turn to face him, pulling my hood down. His lips press up against my forehead.

"C'mon idiot, we've got to get to class!" I say, squeezing his hand

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbles. I laugh. we start walking down the hall, listening to the typical chatter of our classmates.

(Time skip)

 _Wicked_ was a major success. It smashed the record for the most tickets sold, and everything went amazingly well. Nobody in the show but Percy and I know we're actually dating. Of course, people suspect, but we've got them convinced that we're just close friends. Our families know, and they _seem_ okay with it, but I can't really tell with my mother and Percy's dad.

"Hey Annabeth, ready to go?" Percy says, honking the horn of his car. It's finally the day of the party, and I couldn't be more excited. I get off of the front stoop, and climb into the car.

"Hi," I say, after kissing Percy's cheek.

"let's go," he says.

"We're admitting it today, right?" I say.

"Yeah. I can't wait to actually be able to kiss you in public without worrying about other people seeing," he says. His fingers tap repeatedly on the steering wheel, and I smile.

"Yeah. it's been fun sneaking around behind everyone's back, but I can't wait to be open about this," I shrug. We pull into the parking lot and hurry inside. We plop down in front of Luke, and next to Piper and our friends. I put my head on Percy's shoulder, and smile up at him.

"Good afternoon, cast. We'll be starting today with a slideshow of pictures, made by our student director. Food will be served shortly after," Chiron says. The room darkens, and a slideshow plays on the projection screen. There are pictures of various scenes in the show, and then it moves on to behind the scenes stuff, like the time we tried to form a human pyramid. Percy, Frank, Jason, and Beckendorf are on the bottom, Piper, Silena, and I are in the second row, Thalia and Leo are next, and then at the top is Hazel. Percy snickers.

"That was fun," he whispers. There's a picture of Jason and Frank tangled together in mid air that gets a ton of laughs. Next, a picture of Percy and I sleeping onstage pops up. I'm laying on his chest, and he's sleeping on his arms. People coo. Percy sticks out his tongue at me, so I stick my tongue out in response. He ends up kissing the top of my head. Silena squeaks off to my left somewhere, but I ignore it. The slideshow keeps going, and it ends with a picture of a stage kiss between Percy and I. There are some whistles and some cheers. Percy and I go bright red.

"I'm killing her. I don't care what you say. I'm doing it," I growl. Percy wraps his arm around me to keep me in place, and sighs.

"Calm down babe," he says.

"Fine. You're lucky I like you, or you'd be next," I mutter. Piper looks over.

"What did you just say?" Piper says as the lights turn on.

"Nothing," I say quickly.

"Annabeth, we said we'd tell them," Percy sighs, yanking me to my feet.

"Woah, woah woah. Tell us what?" Silena says as our friends crowd around us.

"Ugh do I have to?" I say.

"You lost the Super Smash Brothers tournament, so yes," Percy smirks.

"Because you cheated!" I say.

"I wouldn't call it _cheating_. I just manipulated the situation in my favor," He says.

"Fine! I'll do it! Okay, so you know how Percy and I were, umm," I say, fiddling with the owl necklace Percy gave me for my birthday over the summer and staring at the floor. Percy grabs my free hand, and I glance up at him. He smiles, and I smile back.

"Can you spit it out? I'm _starving_!" Rachel says.

"Well, umm, how do I say this? Percy and I are -mmmph!" I say, getting cut off by Percy's lips on mine. My eyes flutter shut on instinct, and I hear gasps from Piper and Silena.

"What?" Thalia says. I pull away.

"Surprise?" Percy says.

"B-but you, and him, _what_?" Jason says. Percy and I just laugh.

"Don't think you're off the hook for that stunt you pulled yesterday," I say, effectively silencing Percy.

"Details, _now_ ," Silena says.

"When did _this_ happen?" Hazel says. I shrug.

"I don't know, maybe three weeks ago?" I say.

"But you were fake dating so you could get Luke off your back!" Piper says.

"No we weren't! We've been dating this whole time," Percy chuckles.

" _What_?" Frank says.

" _When_?" Beckendorf. I start laughing too.

"Three weeks ago bro," Percy says.

"Wait, so I-" Rachel says.

"We weren't dating yet, Rach. It's okay. I'm not angry," I say.

"What?" Percy says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh, nothing," I say.

"Alright," he says.

"So that pizza thing _was_ a date!" Piper says.

"Well, umm," Percy says.

"Come on! All the food's going to be gone!" I say. I go over and grab a plate and fill it with everything I want. Percy does the same, and we make our way back to our friends, who are busy arguing over _something_. I sigh and plop down a couple feet away from them. Percy does the same.

"So, that went better than I expected," he says in between bites of his slice of pizza.

"You kissed me, and Silena practically fainted," I say, before biting into my hamburger.

"It was nice though," he chuckles. Travis and Connor are standing on chairs underneath the fire sprinklers. I hear them laughing, and the sprinklers turn on. I gasp as I get hit with cold water, and Percy gets to his feet.

"Stolls! You're dead!" Katie screeches, chasing them out of the room. The sprinklers keep dumping water on us. I shiver.

"Everyone out!" Thalia calls. We swarm the parking lot. I shiver even more in the chilly evening air.

"You okay?" Percy says, wiping water out of his eyes.

"I'm fine. Just cold. Oh crap! My mom won't let me in if I'm soaking wet!" I say.

"I have dry clothes back home, and we could toss your clothes in the dryer," Percy says.

"Look," I say, pointing up at the sky. The sun is setting, and the clouds look pink and fluffy.

"Woah," he breathes. There's the sound of footsteps on asphalt behind us. Somebody clears their throat. I whirl around and smack into a chest. _Luke._

"Ow!" I say, holding my nose.

"You okay?" Percy says from behind me. I nod.

"What do you want Luke?" I say.

"I just want to talk," Luke says.

" _Talk_? The last time you wanted to _talk_ , you ended up slapping my girlfriend across the face," Percy says, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Well, she did piss me off," Luke shrugs.

"You know what, Castellan? I don't want you anywhere near me. I used to like you. God, I can't believe that I actually _liked_ you! Get out of my sight you son of a bitch," I say, jabbing his chest with every word. He leaves, and Thalia comes up to us, with our friends hot on her heels.

"This whole time?" She says. I lean into Percy, and he smiles down at me.

"Yeah," he says, meeting my eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Piper says.

"We just wanted a little privacy," I say. My wet ponytail whips around in the wind. Piper clutches the school newspaper.

"Hey did you read Valentina's critique of Wicked?" Piper says, giving me the newspaper.

 _Goode High Titans Defy Gravity_

 _By Valentina Diaz_

 _Last week, the Goode High Titans presented their first show of the year, a well known musical, known as Wicked._

 _Starring Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano as the Wicked Witch of the West and Annabeth Chase as Glinda the Good, this show flips everything one thinks they know about the land of Oz on its head. It is an amazing show, especially considering that everyone involved is a high school student. Perhaps the charm of the show lies with its actors. You can practically sense the closeness between each character, and you can sense tension between others. Talking to the cast after the show is like talking to a family. The actors know how to work an audience. The romance in the show is a stereotypical love triangle, but the actors involved know how to make it seem fresh and unique. Percy Jackson, portraying Fiyero, the boy caught between the two leads, does an excellent job acting out difficult scenes with the two girls. Personally, I could sense more of an attachment between Percy and Annabeth than Percy and Reyna, but that may be because of the sheer amount of scenes Percy and Annabeth have together. Percy and Annabeth are definitely comfortable portraying a couple, and I, along with most of the audience found myself rooting for them. Talking with the two actors, I could see some sexual tension hidden under the surface. The ending of the story is 100 different kinds of awful. We all know how the story of the Wicked Witch of the West ends, but watching it happen after becoming attached to the girl is horrifying. The cast does an excellent job at making us feel the way we are supposed to feel watching the story unfold. All in all, the show is amazing, and definitely not one to miss._

"Oh wow. She really did dig deep for this," I say.

"Hey, remember during our first rehearsals, when Hazel and I would hook plastic skeletons to the flying cables?" Frank says. I start to laugh, and soon everyone else is laughing too. _If we'd never done Wicked, I wouldn't be here. And that'd be terrible._


End file.
